The first digital twin was first used by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, which provides services in 90 European cities, in 2017. It was a twin Boeing 787 Dreamliner, and used to train ground crews taking care of cleaning the interior of the aircraft. Today, they manage 104 digital twins – have recorded nearly 1 million views, including several versions for each of the 14 types of Boeing, Airbus, and Embraer from the KLM Fleet.

“Matterport digital twins have permanently changed the way we train our employees, and over time, we have expanded them to allow customer use,” says Chris Koomen, virtual reality specialist at KLM.

Global air carriers use digital twins for training across almost all jobs. Cleaning is more efficient, the stewardesses learn to organize aircraft in advance, and pilots can better prepare in terms of flight safety.

“Thanks to the remote access to digital twins, training participants avoid disturbing the maintenance of the aircraft, which allows our fleet to return faster. All this contributes to performance efficiency,” explains Ch. Coome.

The results? For example, aircraft cleaning time has been shortened by 30 percent. Flight attendants find out where important safety and serving items, such as beverage carts and the like, are located. KLM employees do not have to travel to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport for training, virtual participants no longer interrupt the maintenance of aircraft by personal visits. Therefore, the aircraft return to operation faster, and with shorter downtime.

In addition, the company uses digital twins to show cabins of its aircraft to passengers. They can virtually try out the cabin, compare sections, and see their ideal seat. For example, the KLM Boeing Dreamliner digital twin highlights the individual privacy sections and top entertainment systems available to passengers in the business class. It has already amassed over 70,000 views.